As we continue to study the curses for disobedience to God which are found in Deuteronomy Chapter 28; I can’t think of much worse than the curses we read about in Deuteronomy 28: 30 – 37.
WATCHING YOUR PLANS DISSOLVE AWAY
It is so much, maybe we should consider each verse just one at a time.
Verse 30: You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.
Sounds pretty bad huh?
How could this possibly happen today, in the modern civilized world in which we are living?
When we turn away from God and live in apostasy and disobedience; the natural ways of the world take over.
That pattern has been seen and noticed by millions throughout history.
LIVING THROUGH ATROCITIES
In the past, the Jews were terribly punished by Germany. They wanted to see them blend in with their own ways and not remain a separate culture unto themselves. Evil rulers desired only one, pure, ethnic race for the country.
No one could be different; they mistook equality and quality to mean everything being the same.
It is one of the worst mistakes a culture can make.
Most ancient cultures are eventually destroyed by such techniques of more modern cultures; but not those that God put His name upon. No culture has ever been able to destroy the nation that God called Israel.
Like those of ancient Israel, the more recent Jewish culture has also lived through great atrocities; and so many nations have tried to wipe them off the map without success. Their longevity has been given to them by God because of their times of obedience.
GOD’S PATIENCE LASTS THROUGH SEVERAL GENERATIONS
On the other hand though; the harsh years in which Israel has suffered throughout history has always come down to them because of times of disobedience and apostacy as a nation.
It is always hard to see and understand this when a nation is living through that space and time. America is in a similar situation today; and we need to take a lesson here.
America has seen and experienced the mercy and patience of God for years now.
However; what was true for the people of God in ancient times is just as true for the people of God in modern days. The one difference on this side of the cross is that we are now living under a BETTER Covenant; one that we never deserved which provides us grace and safety. We still can ask for and receive forgiveness from God.
This is exactly what He is waiting for now.
GOD’S LAWS WILL NEVER BE REVOKED
That is a wonderful thing to know; but true repentance leads to obedience and turning. We are still living under the laws that God put into effect when He created the Universe; they have not been revoked; nor will they ever be.
When we look at all of the nations of the world, and then all of these curses that come from disobedience, we begin to see that they happen because of the plans of mankind.
Mankind is always busy making plans of our own. We do not usually stop to consider the ways of God when we begin to implement our own plans into our lives.
GOD’S DREAM AND THE AMERICAN DREAM ARE NOT THE SAME
Men plan to wed; and their bride is taken and ravished by another man before the wedding can be consumed. This was a man’s plan; not God’s plan.
Others plan and build the house of their dreams, sinking all they own into their fantasy of what life will be like when they are finished.
Never once do they consider dedicating this home to God and His ways; but only to their own fame and fortune.
These are mankind’s plans; not God’s plans.
It will all come to ruin and be wasted when the curses for apostacy and disobedience are handed out in God’s perfect time.
COUNT ON GOD; MEN WILL LET YOU DOWN EVERY TIME
We all plan to grow vineyards or plant gardens so that we may enjoy the finest drink and food; no matter the state of the world.
Many are trying this day to become more self-sufficient; and not depend on others for their very survival and necessities for living. At first that plan sounds good – but then one must consider whether or not it was from God.
Was God even considered in the planting and the growing of anything that these humans of today have begun to implement?
If not; it is all a waste of time because whenever God plans something it prospers and provides good for all; but mankind is incapable of such planning.
Why?
Because of human nature, men eventually tend to become greedy and selfish.
They are unable to share with others, and this leaves them crippled for God’s blessings.
AN EXAMPLE OF NOT RECOGINIZING AND HONORING YOUR TRUE SOURCE
Eventually; their best-laid plans go to the benefit of their enemies; because they never once realized the true source of any of their success.
In the book of Esther we read of the evil villain named Haman who planned for his own success and rein over the Kingdom of Persia. He wanted to be in charge and he was only using the good King in order to get his own way. His loyalty was totally fake.
Haman hated the people of God.
His plans were to take everything from them; then destroy them.
Haman is the best example we can find for seeing the results of the curses that come from disobedience and apostacy toward God (short of Satan himself.)
For awhile everything about Haman’s plan looked like it was going to work out fine for him; but then the final judgement fell and his plans saw defeat. His enemies won. The Jews were defended and Haman was hanged from the gallows.
THE PATTERNS OF DISOBEDIENCE ARE CONSISTENT
This is what we see in the words of verse 30 in Deuteronomy 28. All of man’s plans are destroyed, and whatever they did plan falls into the waiting hands of their enemies; because they are blatantly disobedient and dishonorable toward God.
This unchangeable pattern was set forth from the first mention of the curses for disobedience in Deuteronomy, and the results have never changed.
This will always be the pattern.
Let’s look at verse 31; Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies and no one will rescue them.
HUNGRY, ISOLATED AND BROKE
If we considered this passage in the words of the modern cultures today, they might read it like this: Your food sources will be taken away from you and given to your enemies. Any forms of transportation that you own will be stolen by those that you do not know. You will not be able to get it back. Your way of making a living will be stripped away from you. Your jobs will disappear and no one will come to your aid.
Look around you next time you go to the grocery store.
God’s people living in this nation of disobedience and apostasy are having to pay double and triple prices in order to eat.
How long can this go on?
The money will run out eventually. Large monopolies that control the food chain are controlling what we are able to do and what we are not able to do.
How long do you think it will it be before you have to show proof of vaccination at the grocery stores in order to pay high prices for poor quality foods?
This is happening in New York already.
STANDING FOR WHAT IS RIGHT FOR HUMANITY
This progressive driven development is obvious to any person walking down the streets of America; but who is willing to take a stand?
Who will stand up and say “I will not contribute to the murder of the unborn in order to become a human science research project for vaccines that do not work and are not even performing with the immunity that they have proclaimed to provide?
Or what about how you are going to drive to that store to try to purchase those overpriced items that are necessities?
Fuel can no longer be obtained at reasonable rates.
We have the ability to manufacture fuel here in our own country; but we pay four or five times the cost to purchase it from enemy countries.
Why?
Our leaders tout environmental reasons, but the science does not back them up.
DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD PRODUCES CHAOS
Logic has now turned into illogical solutions and chaos reigns. It is deliberate on almost every count. The enemies of God are profit-driven; but it is hidden in plain sight, and those who speak up are constantly silenced.
Those sheep that the ancient Israelites sold to make a good living are so comparable to those of us today who are trying to work out our careers and professions inside a very strange and ungodly culture. Our work is how we pay our way in the world; and now through a political vaccine mandate; even our jobs and ways of making a living are threatened.
Even if you are not religious, or if you do not believe the shot is morally wrong; the mandates threaten your very freedom and security. This wreaks of evil power-plays and the stage is being set for all the wrong parties to take total control of all that is yours.
Why would a country that loves its citizens threaten them in such a bold-faced way?
One obvious reason (among others) is because they do not want the people of God living here any longer. We interfere with their ideology and slow down their progressive-socialistic ways.
Many brave warriors DO stand up to their elitist ways. They would love to wipe all of us off the map and have less of a population to worry with. It seems that population control has become very selective.
HAS THE PATIENCE OF GOD RUN OUT?
This isn’t rocket science; but the fact that most are missing in the whole equation is the fact that it all began with disobedience and apostasy toward God. This is a human trait that can be stopped if we desire to do so.
Perhaps we are no longer living under the time of grace; God seems to have been patient enough for long enough. The people are obviously living under the curses of disobedience foretold in Deuteronomy Chapter 28.
Can we change it?
Will it be impossible to turn this around?
I don’t know.
Is this foretold in any prophecies of the future?
WHAT DO CURSED YEARS OF THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
I do want to go into those facts later; but first we should probably look backwards a bit.
Let’s glance back into some history before we begin to think of the future.
In thinking of historical times; such things as those mentioned in the scriptures above have happened over-and-over in many different time periods.
First one has to consider the times of Daniel in the Babylonian captivity. He and his friends were certainly an example of children being taken from their parents and forced to live in a foreign land with a different way in another culture.
But there are examples of this in the not-so-distant past also.
Look at the story of the Jews from Morocco.
Their history is very complicated and hard to follow. So much took place, starting with the migration of the Jews out of Spain and Portugal in the years of 1492-1496.
The Jewish history in the lands of that region was complicated and constantly filled with change, but in 1723 we read of droughts that transformed towns into ghost towns.
Did you pay attention to the droughts mentioned in last week’s lesson? Here is the link if you missed it: SMITTEN BEFORE YOUR ENEMIES.
FORCED CONVERSIONS AND HUNGER
During the drought Jews either escaped or abandoned the area all together. People who had become very rich from trade abandoned their houses. All of the families disappeared, and the gates of the courtyards were closed with weeds growing up in their places.
The homes were pillaged by robbers who stole their beds and the doors of their homes. They even demolished the houses and took away the stones and rafters.
All of the streets were deserted.
In those times 2,000 died of hunger, and 1,000 more were forced to convert from their Jewish beliefs by their captors.
DEATH, TAXES AND RAPE
In 1789 there was a terrible massacre of the Moroccan Jews. They refused to convert and give their support to the throne of Yazid when he was fighting against his brother for succession of the throne after the death of Mohammed III.
The most wealthy of the Jews were tied to the tails of horses and dragged through the city.
Jewish women were raped.
Others were condemned to pay large sums of money to the government officials.
Simply because of their clothing, some of the Jews were ordered to pay a judge 100,000 piasters and three shiploads of gunpowder. They were beaten until all of the payment was made. Many died as martyrs; but some accepted the religion of Islam.
OBLIGED TO WALK BAREFOOT
Chenier described these times in this way:
“The Jews possess neither lands nor gardens, nor can they enjoy their fruits in tranquility. They must wear only black, and are obliged when they pass near mosques, or through streets in which there are sanctuaries, to walk barefoot. The lowest among the Moors imagines he has a right to ill treat a Jew, nor dares the latter defend himself because the Koran and the judge are always in favor of the Mohammedan.”
“Notwithstanding this state of oppression, the Jews have many advantages over the Moors: they better understand the spirit of trade; they act as agents and brokers, and they profit by their own cunning and by the ignorance of the Moors. In their commercial bargains many of them buy up the commodities of the country to sell again. Some have European correspondents; others are mechanics, such as goldsmiths, tailors, gunsmiths, millers, and masons. More industrious and artful, and better informed than the Moors, the Jews are employed by the emperor in receiving the customs, in coining money, and in all affairs and intercourse which the monarch has with the European merchants, as well as in all his negotiations with the various European governments.”
BEING FORCED TO LEAVE
Another Jewish population decrease happened among the community of the mellah (Jewish settlements) in 1790 – 1792. The sultan Malawy-Yazid reigned in the area. The whole Jewish population was forced to leave the area.
When they left, a mosque was built where the synagogue had existed for their community.
To build the mosque the Yazid regime took the tombstones from a Jewish cemetery to use in construction. They did not separate out the bones of the dead Rabbis who were buried there.
After Yazid died the mosque was torn down and the Jews were allowed to return to their quarters. They returned to nothing and had to completely rebuild all they had lost.
BECOMING BEGGARS IN THE STREETS
During the 19th century commercial developments cost many Jewish craftsmen in Morocco their traditional livelihoods. They migrated to costal cities seeking economic opportunities. These once peddlers, artisans and shopkeepers became beggars on the streets.
Their professions ceased to exist.
Poverty was rampant among their people.
When the Hispano-Moroccan War came along, Jewish quarters on the coasts were sacked and many Jews fled to Cadiz and Gibraltar for refuge.
Why am I going into so much Jewish history here?
DEUTERONOMY 28 REPEATS HISTORY WITH THE CURSES
I want you to listen to the words and then read Deuteronomy Chapter 28 again.
How much of history sounds the same?
The Jews in history have gone back and forth between being under the curses and repenting and returning to God’s ways.
After repentance there are always blessings. They remain until the times of disobedience and apostasy return.
Nothing ever seems to change this pattern.
Christian nations of today have the same problem.
No one is consistently staying within the words of God in the ways that they live.
WHEN PEOPLE ARE FORCED INTO SLAVERY
Look at verse 32: Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day powerless to lift a hand.
Does this bring slavery to mind?
In researching this passage I stumbled across portions of one of the most significant books I’ve ever read. I intend to keep reading it; as I have only indulged in portions of this book so far. It certainly seems to be rich with Godly answers for our current culture, but it also seems to be out of print at the moment. I will keep searching for more information and if I find it; I will reveal it here for those who might be interested.
The book is titled “Breaking The Curse of Racism From the Root” by Barbara Robinson Smith. She speaks often about these curses we are studying here.
As she describes the problems African governments have encountered by allowing foreigners to operate on the continent and to practice the slave trade without interference; we see an example of another people having to endure the curses for a nation’s disobedience.
WHY DID GOD ALLOW SLAVERY TO EXIST?
As Christians following Jesus Christ we recognize that slavery is definitely wrong and sinful; but why had God allowed it to happen and exist in the first place?
Why has God not already come to the defense of the good people of Africa, those original slaves traded in the bloody past of our nation’s history?
The author of this book is in tune to her Master, and she has listened very well to God’s Word.
She describes the national sins of the nation of Africa before slavery began. These specific sins existed for centuries and centuries before one slave was ever bought or sold in the African/American slave markets.
Specifically she names 1) the worship of idols, 2) the breaking of God’s Covenants, 3) Blood shed in the land, 4) Defilement of the land, 5) the genocide of Sudan.
Chapter six of this book very accurately describes the root of racism in detail and it explains how this sin can become a curse to a nation.
KNOWING THE SECRET INGREDIENT TO OVERCOME RACISM
She concludes her thoughts about the curses of slavery and racism with a secret ingredient that can be used by anyone to obtain freedom. The skillful author explains this to her readers by asking certain leading questions. I will quote those short paragraphs here for your enjoyment:
“Why did we ever believe we could obtain our total freedom without Him! Why did we think that politics, social agendas, and round table talks were the answers to this 400-year-old dragon that has haunted us all our lives?”
Finally, we realize that it’s not by might or by power, but by His Spirit that He will deliver us. Before Him this mountain will finally become a plain.”
Then this amazing author drops the bomb of the following paragraphs:
“Humility must now come to our aid, as we own the inherited sins of our Egyptian forefathers. We have been found guilty because our ancestors are charged with enslaving the Jewish people. We are committed to repent for the sins of the Egyptians. We are found guilty by reason of geography. This action is necessary for our deliverance. It is similar to the confession we made as sinners when we turned our lives over to Jesus in answer to the spiritual curse left to us from Adam and Eve.”
Praise God for this amazing insight!
WISDOM IS OFTEN HIDDEN
These answers are certainly amazing after hearing so much of our current culture’s critical race theory ideology.
I believe this woman has found and is sharing the answer to the terribly crippling problem of national racism that oppresses each nation of the whole earth.
Who will listen to the words of Deuteronomy 28 that unravel the causes of the curses of mankind?
Oh that all would be so wise!
WE WILL SPEAK ABOUT THE FUTURE IN LESSONS TO COME
I want to leave this lesson on that final note. We will expound further on verses 33-37 in the lessons to come next.
For the present moment, let our hope rest in the fact that some people of the earth are still humble servants who are listening to God’s ways.
There is still hope.
We must see the worst first in order to weigh right against wrong and experience the best in the future.
Do not tire, dear brothern, of following Jesus and doing your best to turn the world upside down for The Kingdom of God!